(Radio Iowa) – Senator Joni Ernst says she’s waiting for information from the National Security Council before commenting on Trump Administration officials discussing military strikes in Yemen accidentally inviting a journalist to their group chat — on the app called Signal. “While I know everybody’s talking about the ‘Signal’ leak, we also should be talking about the fact that we have a president that’s standing up to these terrorist organization,” Ernst said, “so there’s a little bit of concerning news, but then a lot of really good news surrounding this.”

U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Red Oak) (official photo)

U-S airstrikes are targeting Houthi rebels. The group has threatened to resume attacks on Israeli vessels in the Red Sea and other Mideast waters.  “We’re actually going after terrorist groups that have targeted Americans the past four and five years,” Ernst says. Since the October 7th attacks in Israel, the Houthis have sunk two vessels in the Mideast and used drones to hit over 100 others. Ernst says she is not worried about the competency of the U-S defense secretary or the president’s national security advisor who admits he accidentally included The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief in a text chain with others, including the vice president. However, Ernst does emphasize the importance of secure facilities called SCIFs.

“I just want to make sure that anytime there’s sensitive information discussed that we do it in a SCIF or on those classified lines,” Ernst said, “so I do know here in the senate anytime I’m receiving sensitive information, I have to go down to the Senate SCIF and receive that information.” Ernst, the first female combat veteran elected to the U-S Senate, serves on the Armed Services Committee. Ernst, the first female combat veteran elected to the U-S Senate, serves on the Armed Services Committee.

The panel’s Republican chairman and top Democrat have asked the military’s inspector general to investigate the Signal group chat incident. While the text messages disclosed military strikes in Yemen would start in about an hour, President Trump has said classified information was not shared.